(Primary school) students of the 21st century should be able to:
to share ideas and knowledge with others, to be able to work effectively and efficiently in a team via ICT & social media (online collaboration)
combining new information and insights with existing knowledge via ICT & social media (knowledge construction, co-creation)
to work as a group on a project basis to arrive at a concrete product (planned work)
to find solutions to new problems using the power of a community (problem solving, creativity, crowdsourcing)
develop a personal information strategy to manage the influx of digital information in a critically meaningful way (digital literacy)
to place information in context and to be able to assess the value of information in an ever-changing media landscape ( media literacy )
develop online content and know how to best convey the message online (content creation)
have insight into one's own media use in order to make well-considered choices based on that (online behavior)
So why don't we adapt core objectives to the times of today? And why don't we make it mandatory for schools to include these new core objectives in their curriculum?
But how? From project to curriculum?
Fortunately, there are schools that do not wait for the core objectives to be adjusted, but get started with media literacy projects such as “ Diploma Safe Internet ” from Kennisnet, “ Safe learning Hyven ” from Hyves or “ Media literacy ” from UPC. These are usually one-off projects in groups 7/8, while there are now toddlers at school who have been playing with tablets for a long time. When are we going to tackle this in a structured way from toddler to teenager? Isn't it time to start with a continuous learning path? A learning path is a development path along which the learning of the pupil is stimulated. Intermediate objectives are moments in the learning path. With the learning paths and intermediate objectives, a teacher can better monitor the development of a pupil.
Last month I did a little research on LinkedIn by posting the statement “Stop with media literacy projects, start with a continuous learning path.” in different groups. It resulted in interesting discussions in which it also became clear how new the subject actually is for schools and that due to a lack of guidance it is also not clear on whose plate it should now end up. Some reactions:
“If you draw up a curriculum, you get the same situation as back then with the internet and computer use. After a while, you are teaching something that everyone has mastered anyway.”
“In addition to offering a continuous learning path, aren't there a whole host of other tasks that are currently mainly tackled at home, but where the school can also unleash its educational know-how – or develop it for it.”
“What about the skills of the teachers and what can be expected of them?”
“If education does not fully integrate the use of new media into the curriculum, it will alienate itself from the students. And that continuous learning path is also necessary because secondary education is confronted with first-year students with very different levels. Meanwhile, higher education complains bitterly because the ICT skills of incoming students are far below standard.”
“Creating your own curriculum has the advantage that you can seamlessly connect to the needs of the school and promote thinking about it together. It would be useful to be able to share those curriculums somewhere centrally.”
No time to lose, on the way to the next gear!
We know which learning objectives need to be achieved, which digital skills need to be developed australia telegram data and we have made a choice whether we do this with projects or via a continuous learning line. This should enable schools to quickly incorporate this into their education, right?
The 21st century student needs a 21st century teacher, who also has these digital skills. Back in 2008, the Education Council made an important observation: there would be no constant and regular use of ICT & social media in all classes. The Education Council even stated that there is an ever-increasing gap between the possibilities of ICT and the actual use by teachers. In fact, if this continues at the current rate, it will take at least another ten to fifteen years before all teachers make optimal use of ICT. It is now almost 2013. What have we achieved?
Priority for digital skills and media literacy
The digital divide does not have to grow by prioritising media literacy and digital skills! Make time and money available for designing curricula and developing digital skills of current and future teachers. Help children to further develop digital skills and competences so that they are well prepared to live and work in the knowledge society of the 21st century.